UK Cyber Agency Warns AI-Powered Ransomware Likely to Hit Critical Infrastructure by 2028

AI-driven malicious software is "highly likely" to be deployed in ransomware attacks on the UK's power stations, airports and hospitals by 2028, the National Cyber Security Centre has warned in its annual review.

The NCSC, part of the GCHQ spy agency, said AI will probably help carry out a ransomware strike on critical national infrastructure between now and 2028 - a category spanning energy, transport, defence, food, health and finance. The review also cautioned that Russia and China will begin using AI "routinely" in cyber-attacks.

Ransomware has become a staple for criminal gangs, typically based in former Soviet states, who encrypt victims' files and demand cryptocurrency to unlock them. Past UK victims include Royal Mail, Capita and various councils. According to the NCSC, AI will aid attackers in scouting targets, finding network weaknesses and writing malicious code.

In a speech accompanying the review, NCSC chief executive Richard Horne will warn of "a real prospect of an unprecedented rise in the number of cyber incidents" in the coming months, blaming technology's ability to expose flaws "tolerated for far too long." He will also say British military communications networks face daily, "persistent" and "sustained" attacks, with Russia among the perpetrators conducting campaigns that "intentionally fall below the threshold of armed conflict."

Horne will point to recent attacks on supermarket fridges in Europe, where hackers raised temperatures above 50C, as a warning for organisations to invest in cyber resilience. "For decades we have collectively got away with tech on the cheap," he will say.

Source: The Guardian